135 - Maia Siemers: Ready to Write Her Own Story

Join soon-to-be nursing student and Spokane, Washington native Honored Guest Maia Siemers as she chats about her family, her activities and hobbies, how her sports background will help her in nursing school, other jobs she has had, how her little sister is her hero, how her mom and grandma inspire her both in life and her future career, being open to all areas of nursing, her 12-hour shift shadow experience, what she is most nervous and excited about in nursing school, her questions for the host, and more!

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Transcript

0:01

Hello everyone and welcome to this episode of the Feeding Our Young podcast. I am not going to waste time. I am on a mission to stop blabbering at the beginning of every episode. And I've already gone against that mission by blabbering a little bit. So I'm done with that. I'm going to just allow our Honored Guest to introduce herself. Excuse me, but who are you? Hello, I'm Maia Siemers. Hi, Maia. Thank you so much for spending some time with us this evening. Yes, I'm so excited. I am so excited to have you. So let's just start right off the bat. um When do you graduate, Maia? I graduate next week. Next week! You guys, she graduates next week. And where are you graduating from? Ferris High School. Wait, hold on, Ferris High School. I didn't hear nursing school in there whatsoever. I'm a high school student right now. I love it. I absolutely love it. everyone, Maia marks the second prospective nursing student, sort of second and a half, because we had an Honored Guest before that wanted to get into nursing school and couldn't and it's a whole thing, but she was still on the podcast. She's amazing. So second and a half prospective student, but the first coming straight out of high school. so Maia, cannot thank you. We're going to take advantage of this opportunity, ask you questions that hopefully other prospective students. and or nursing students will hear and be like, my gosh, girl, like be ready. It's coming, it's coming. So with that, where's home for you, Maia? Volcan, Washington. I've grown up here, lived here my whole life. That is awesome. And we're going to be talking about your family in a little while because that may or may not be foreshadowing our connection. But before we do that, this is your episode. what are three? Normally I ask what are three words you'd use to describe nursing school, but that's not the case. So you did choose three words. What are they and what do they represent? Well, being that I haven't actually been in nursing school yet, I decided to choose three words that I thought describe nurses, and I chose strong, hardworking, and loving. love that, couldn't love it more. And it is definitely different than the typical uh difficult, strenuous, rigorous, life-sucking, I'm just kidding, nobody goes that far. um Awesome. So what are, and we'll talk more about those words and why, like specifically why those words and related to nurses at the end of your episode. But in the meantime, what are three songs that are your favorite songs in life right now? For three songs, I wanted to go for three different categories. So I chose... Luther by SZA, Chicken Fried and Enjoy the Silence. I was like, your mom, your family, your parents are raising you right, because that is a great song right there. No, thank you for sharing those. And then the question that you are not prepared for, my friend, the patent not pending, unofficial, feeding our young personality test, are you ready to find out exactly who you are? All right, so you can answer these rapid fire style. or you can give a rationale, a reason for these answers if you feel very strongly about them. First, would you rather never have to wait in line or always have a parking spot? Ooh, I'm going to have to go with never have to wait in line. I don't mind walking from park parking spots. Would you rather lose the ability to lie or believe everything you're told? Mmm. believe everything I'm Yes. Okay. you rather... It's the one that most people are like, oh, this one's like, I don't know. Would you rather never be able to go out during the day or never be able to go out at night? never be able to go out at night. Okay. Isle seat or a window seat? window. And the last one, would you rather have one wish granted today or 10 wishes granted 20 years from now? 10 wishes granted from 20 years. From 20 years. Oh yay! Thank you. I know you were worried there, but don't worry. We have officially determined. ah No, thank you for playing our little game. So much fun. And I just love getting to get to know people, you know what I mean? Like by asking questions that are just crazy like that. So let's start off with getting to know you a little bit more. ah How do you like nursing school? Just kidding. All right, so. Tell us a little bit more about yourself. Tell us about your family. Let's lead off there, because I know you have a lot to say about that topic. Yes, um family, my mom and my grandma are both nurses. So I'm really inspired by nurses because I would be like third generation nurse and they are obviously the most inspiring people to me. I am also the oldest. I have a younger sister and a younger brother. Awesome. And I mean, tell us about your parents a little bit too. My dad is a computer engineer and my mom is a labor and delivery nurse. labor and delivery nurse. Hmm, maybe I have met her somewhere before. Would that be true? Yes, Maia's mom and I go way back. We've known each other long before I was ever in the postpartum world. And just an absolutely wonderful human being as is I imagine your entire family. So I also understand that there's some fur babies mixed in that family somewhere too and not fur babies. I have four pigs, four cats, like 15 bunnies and a fish. So basically you guys have like your own petting zoo. Basically, yes. Oh my goodness, this is amazing. if you can just answer, why? the bunny? Bunnies and pigs I don't get very often when I ask this question. Well, I actually show pigs in the fair at Spokane Interstate Fair. And then I just have always loved bunnies and they just keep having more babies. Yes. Yes. So no, that's amazing. I guess that leads naturally then into the next question, which is, what are your hobbies, Well, I've always played a lot of sports my whole life. Right now I'm cheer, basketball, and track. And I would say my main hobbies are just my sports and working out, but I also like swimming, hiking, boating, shopping, traveling, all the fun things. Awesome, awesome. so I just always athletically inclined. Why, why so many sports? I love a team aspect, which is another reason I love nursing. I just like to be with all these people. love, and then cheer's my favorite because I love performing. And I've just played basketball and I've done track my whole life. So it's just something I've always known. And yeah. Do you feel like that that background is going to help you learning like when you enter nursing school? for sure, because it definitely teaches a lot of leadership, I would say. I think sportsmanship can go into a lot of different areas into your life. With patience, it can help with coworkers, all the things. And I just think the ability to have wins and losses with patience is also super important, because not everything's going to go great. And a lot of things can go great. So just knowing how to work through all of it. Very, very wise. I like how you phrased that. ah Very briefly then, I mean, is nursing going to be your first job or have you worked other jobs and if so, what are they? I babysat my whole life, but I was a lifeguard and a swim instructor for two years. And then currently I work at Subway. Yeah. I have one of my daughters as well works for Subway so you're in good company that's for sure. That's amazing. Thank you for sharing a little bit about your background. Now we get into some of the fun nitty-gritty stuff. um I'd like to know who is your hero and why? My hero is my little sister, Megan. um She's actually, think, from the very beginning, she's always been my hero. She's so kind, so strong. She's always been there for me, truly my best friend. And we're pretty close in age. She's only a year behind me in school. And we just have always done everything together, been together. She just is so strong and just always going. That's incredible. And that's why I loved your answer to that. Because I'm like, I have not had anybody say their sister yet. That's so cool. So then, you know, keeping it in the family, who inspires you most in life? My mom and my grandma, they inspire me the most, yes. So let's talk about that. So third generation nurse, is this something that you felt pressured to do um or was it just more of an incredible example that you just want to follow? It was definitely an example I wanted to follow. I've never had pressure to be like, should definitely be a nurse. Like you have to be a nurse. It was never like that. It was just honestly like hearing the stories, like they're so like passionate about what they do. And it's always like just seemed so wonderful to be in that area and to just do what like follow after what they're doing. They're very hardworking people and they do it with like true love and passion. Like it's never like, have to do this or great, now I have to do that. Like it's always, what can I do? How can I do it? And let me do it with the most love. So I think that that is why I'm so inspired by that because it's just like how to keep things positive even when it's going downhill or how to keep things positive when like it could be like just like stressful and all of the situations. It's just like they're very good at what they do. And what I don't know I don't recall you saying this what type of nurse was was is your grandma is she still practicing? Question one She is not. She just actually just retired. So she first was a uh I see like intensive care and then after that she was a nurse supervisor for 35 years at Sacred Heart. Yeah. Yeah. And then your mom, labor and delivery, and now you. nurse for 21 years. but before that, um she was actually for 22 years. Before that, she worked in postpartum cardiac nurse because she was like um a maternal child float pool. That's what she worked in. And I think she worked with you, right? Or saw you a lot? Yes. a lot and that's where like those of us that have been around and if you work anywhere for a long period of time and you don't go anywhere, you end up like you're just passing people in the hall like, oh, hey Doug, hey, you know, hey Bethany, how you doing? And it's just, it's fantastic. You don't have to like talk, you don't have to interact often. And yet those connections are still there. So ah that's what I've always appreciated. So I mean, your mom is inspirational to you. She inspires me as well. I'll just put that out there. And so, ah and no, she did not pay me to say that, ladies and gentlemen. That is from the heart. Although, Bethany, if you want to throw a 20 my way next time I see you, that's great. All right, just kidding. So then, all these different fields of nursing being represented by two generations before you, do you have an idea of where you want to go or do you see yourself more open to the possibilities? I'm definitely open. want to like explore all areas. I want to see it all. I have uh shadowed my mom and Harlee in the labor and delivery unit and I definitely loved that. Like it was amazing to see like just perfect. So that is obviously something I'm interested, but I also want to go into it with like open mind and see like everything. And that leads into, because I was gonna say, oh, Maia, I'm assuming that you've been just, all you have is imagination, knowing where you were going with that. So obviously, you had more than just hearing the stories and more than just picturing what it might look like. Describe, first of all, how did you get to shadow Harlee, which shout out to Harlee, my cousin, ah who was a previous Honored Guest on here. Go look up her episode, y'all. um But how did you get to shadow Harlee? Like, how did that all come to be? Yeah, so my cousin, she for one of her school projects, she does a different, she's also a senior. One of her like final projects was she had to shadow someone in the career she wanted to be in and she wants to be a nurse. So she asked my mom, like, how can I shadow? How can I like see what you do? So she like, my mom figured the things out. She talked to like her boss and my cousin was able to be the first person in high school to ever shadow like for a full shift at Sacred Heart. And then they sent me the link because they're like, if you can do it, might as well do it as well. So then I couldn't shadow my mom. So we asked Harlee and I was able to shadow Harlee. Wow. So Maia, what I really love about what you bring to the table is how you are one of the only people I've ever talked to who has had a shadowing experience. And you got to shadow Harlee, and I think that's so incredible. But if you don't mind, because you bring this unique perspective, can you tell us more about that day, specifically with the things that happened and maybe kind of what you felt as you went through it? Yeah, for sure. It was super fun and exciting. So I shadowed Harlee for a 12 hour shift in the labor and delivery unit. It was so exciting and pretty nerve, I was pretty nervous. When I first like got there, I would say pretty quickly, I to say like the first 20 minutes was a C-section. And I got to go see that. I was extremely nervous about going into it. By the end, was, I loved it. Every part of it was amazing. It was so cool to see everyone do their thing and watch my mom and watch Harlee be a part of all of that. I think my main job, because I'm obviously shadowing, was I just talked to the dads. They would ask me questions as if I was a nurse and I would answer to the best of my ability, because they're obviously nervous. And I took pictures of the dads and their babies and like kind of just walked him through them and like calmed them down, even though like I'm not exactly like knowing what I'm talking about, but you know, they're nervous, so they'll just listen. And it was, I had two C-sections, five vaginals. The second birth I watched was a twin delivery, which was so exciting. It was really cool. And yeah, I also would hold the mom up when they're getting their epidural. That was kind of my main thing. That is all absolutely incredible. Like it sounds to me like you got a chance to be a nurse before even stepping one foot in a nursing school. Does that sound right? Right, yeah, it was awesome. And not many people get that opportunity, especially this day and age where, you know, patient information and trying to be super protective and not allowing people who have no business being in a room, being in the room. And so I think that's, you should take that for the incredible badge of honor that it is too. So let me ask you another question here. You talked earlier about hearing stories as you've grown up, you know, from your mom and your grandma. Any of those stories you can remember that you want to share that maybe had a particular impact on you? I think it's just like, it's not necessarily a certain story. It's just like how the moms and like the families felt after like getting to like give birth and everything. Just like the idea of helping someone bring their child into the world and not even just like their child, but just helping people in general. Like how that made them feel, how like saving their lives, saving their baby's lives and just like being a part of someone's like most important special day and like just getting to be there with people sounds so amazing and just so rewarding. So what other things have you done from an educational standpoint currently that you think is helping prepare you for nursing school? Well, I'm currently in Running Start and I'm getting a lot of my prereqs done, but I'm going to WSU next year and one of the requirements is you have to have one year of prereqs through them before you get to apply for the nursing school. So I have one year done through Running Start and I'll have one year in Coleman and then hopefully I get into the nursing program. You're definitely gonna get in, absolutely. It's only, and you're gonna make an incredible nurse, Maia. I greatly appreciate you ah kind of taking your time to share your perspective, basically from the outside looking in, like looking forward to the future, right? Yes, so excited. So with that, then let's circle back around here and I, you know, time-wise you're gonna be one of our shortest episodes, but unless there's, let me ask this question first. Is there anything that we haven't talked about that you definitely want to make sure you communicate before we close in a semi-traditional manner? Yes, I think I covered everything I wanted to say. I can't really say too much before I'm actually a nurse, but yeah, it's been wonderful talking to you. and likewise. So then let's do this. You chose three words to describe nurses. What were those three words and why did you pick them specifically? So I chose the word strong, hardworking and loving. And I chose those words because I think to be a nurse, have to be strong mentally and physically, but I would say mainly mentally because there's so many things you have to go through every single day, every single hour. There's so many things. And if something bad happens, you have to immediately move on. So just like being strong mentally and physically just to get through your day. I also chose the word hardworking because it's just go, go, go. watching the shadowing, like there's just so much that you have to do and like that you have to be a part of. So just working hard, you can't really just watch, you have to always be doing something, putting your best effort forward. And then finally, I chose loving because I've watched all these nurses do all these hard things, all these tedious things, but with so much like love and passion. So I just thought it was really awesome to see like they're genuinely there to help and want to help others. Very good choices as far as words are concerned. So then normally I would ask my honored guest what you know what's your one piece of advice for nursing students but we're gonna flip that script on you for obvious reasons. So I'm gonna ask you three questions and one at a time. So the first one would be looking forward to nursing school what are you maybe are there is there anything that you are most nervous about? Well, I think I'm most nervous about the workload and how intense it's going to be just because it's definitely different than high school, obviously. So it's going to be a lot more. But I guess I'm just nervous about that. Well, sister, can tell you if you're three sports and all the things and you're maintaining your incredible grades and you're doing running start, I think you're gonna be okay. So then the flip side of that, what are you most excited about looking forward to in nursing school? I'm excited to be with like-minded people who are going into the same career as me and then just learning about what my future holds career-wise and seeing how I can be a nurse and what I'm passionate about. So then the very last question I have for you is actually flipping the script. As someone who's not been in nursing school yet, and I know that your mom is an incredible resource and your grandma, I'm sure, and I'm sure you've gotten answers to lots of questions from them, but are there any questions or what would you feel would be the most important questions to ask me? Are there any questions that you feel like prospective students would want to hear an answer for? I wrote down some questions that I thought could benefit anybody who wants to be a nurse or is thinking about being a nurse. uh My first question was, what are some ways or things I can do to get into the nursing program? Very good, and you've done some of those things. mean, shadowing, oh my goodness, like that's incredible. But as far as getting into the nursing program is concerned, obviously every university, every educational facility has different requirements. A lot of things that go a long way are community service on top of, you know what I mean, maintaining your GPA, all of those things. And anytime you have an opportunity to volunteer, you know what I mean? look into your program, whoever you are, prospective nursing student, and see what it is that they require of you. Hands down, typically it's a high GPA that they're always looking for. um But the fact that if you do have, in whatever state you guys are in, if you have something similar to this Running Start program that we have in Washington state, know, start starting your junior year, starting your senior year, get a leg up on the competition. So good question. What are some things I can do to be prepared for this program? Ooh, very good. um Being prepared, there's being prepared pretty much, I think the number one way is just emotionally and understanding and you've got the benefit of seeing it firsthand and hearing it from nurses and your family. But one of the number one ways is just knowing you're going to see a lot of things. Oh, this was stupid. The obvious answer is listen to our podcast. Just kidding. uh So people who are listening to this are already doing that. ah But no, the... The bottom line is make sure that you know what you're getting into and there's no way you can definitely know, but just know, okay, it's not gonna all be rainbows and sunshine, but it's also not, it shouldn't also be depressing, sad, and so scary. Just know that, you know what, that's what, based on that answer, I would say make sure you have a good support system. Friends, family, someone you can rely on that you can call at, 11 at night and be like, mom or, you know what mean? So and so, like, I need someone to talk to. I think that would be the number one way to be ready. Okay. And my final question is, are your favorite parts of nursing? Everything my uh, um, no No, and it is it is one of the most rewarding careers my favorite part of nursing is going home at the end of a shift feeling like I made a difference and Whatever that looks like and sometimes people if you hear that some people are gonna think like oh like changing a life, like delivering a baby, saving a life. No, I'm talking about the little things. If someone's just like, my gosh, thank you for listening to me. Thank you for any of those things. If I come home feeling like I made a difference, that's my favorite. What was that? Awesome. And that was your last question, yes Maia? Yes, I just also wanted to say that this podcast would be so helpful to high schoolers so if there's a way you can reach a more high school audience, I think so many people who want to go into nursing school can definitely benefit from this. That is a brilliant idea that I have not had. I'm legit, like, I'm going to be cold calling universities and community colleges and various colleges of that nature. And I've never once thought, why not start in high school? Because I know that, like, Wazoo does career fairs and things like that to expose high school students to the nursing field. I love it. I absolutely love it. So Maia, I just, can't thank you enough for taking time on your Friday evening after completing a long day at school and taking time to just enrich the Feeding Our Young community. I hope you're willing down the road uh to come back. I envision a... where are they now sort of like return trip on some of our honored guests? And if you're willing to do that, I'd love to hear how nursing school is going and then how your nursing career is going down the road. Yes, I would love it. It's been so fun talking to you. Thank you so much. Awesome, thank you. And for those that don't know, like, we've been dealing with technical difficulties, so if this episode, for whatever reason, sounds different than... than it normally does, that's why. But you know what? Maia's worth the wait and worth the patience behind the scenes. So Maia, thank you also for being patient in dealing with whatever the heck we're dealing with. Yes, of course. It's so worth it. I loved it.